Expedia/ARC Report Sees Asia Leading Growth in Air Transport

Expedia, ARC, Fares, Asia, air transport

For the fourth year in a row, Expedia and the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) have collaborated to complete a detailed analysis of the global air travel landscape.

Asia-Pacific will drive demand for air travel over the next two decades, according to the 2018 Air Travel Outlook report. Based on IATA forecasts, the report highlights the rise of Asia Pacific.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects 7.8 billion passengers to travel in 2036, a near doubling of the 4 billion air travelers expected to fly in 2017. Asia Pacific will be the source of more than half of new passengers worldwide over the next two decades.

Routes to, from and within Asia-Pacific will see an extra 2.1 billion annual

passengers by 2036, for an overall market size of 3.5 billion. Its annual average

growth rate of 4.6% will be the third-highest, behind Africa and the Middle East.

• China has already taken over the US as the largest business travel spend market, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

• For total travel, China is anticipated to displace the US as the world’s largest aviation market (defined as traffic to, from and within the country) around 2022, and some expect that it could happen even sooner.

• In the same year the UK will fall to fifth place, to be surpassed by India in 2025, and Indonesia in 2030. Thailand and Turkey will then enter the top ten largest markets, dragging down France and Italy to respectively the eleventh and twelfth largest air transport market.

The report also offers insight over the way to realize savings when booking an air ticket in 2018:

•Economy travel:

· For most economy air travel, booking more than 30 days ahead often results in cheap-

airfare success.

· For most economy international flights, booking on a Sunday and departing on a Thursdayor Friday is the best recipe to find a good price. (Noting highest ATPs for international economy flights tend to occur on a Friday.)

• Premium travel:

· For most premium air travel, booking more than 30 days ahead often results in cheap-

airfare success.

· For most premium international flights, booking on a Saturday or Sunday, will save you

money as compared to booking flights on other days of the week.

· For most premium international travel, starting the journey on a Friday or Sunday delivers the lowest ATPs.

For leisure travellers wanting to upgrade to premium seats, at bargain prices:

book premium fares on the weekend, and/or start the journey on a weekend. Weekends are when travelers paid the lowest domestic and international premium ATPs, as this is when it is least likely for corporate/business travelers to book their travel.

The difference in the premiums paid for purchasing airfares on the most expensive day versus the cheapest day of week can range from 15% to 120% for international flights.

Some of the busiest international-destination airports in Asia in 2017 included:

• North Asia: Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei

• South Asia: Bangkok and Singapore

• Middle East: Dubai

The full report can be downloaded under www2.arccorp.com/globalassets/email/arc2018airtraveloutlookreport.pdf.